Kingdom Hearts: Embrace in Between
by EmbraceinBetween
Summary: What do you think the title mean?  serious question, not trying to be sarcastic
1. Prologue

Kingdom Hearts

Embrace in Between

Prologue

My feet finally landed on an invisible surface. My eyes opened to the seeming nothingness around me. Looking around I pressed one foot forward and dove and ravens suddenly burst upward. I watched them gracefully go and then drew my attention to what was under me. A circular mosaic of myself. Only there was two of me. I was on the right, normal except for a key like sword, which was gold at the hilt and silver at the blade, teeth, and chain, which resembled a mouse head. To the left of me I saw me as well except my hood was pulled up, my hair white instead of black, my skin was darker, and I was upside down. In this version's hand was the same key, but the colors reversed, silver at the hilt and gold at the blade, teeth, and chain. The teeth of both I finally realized was the outline of a crown.

In between us both was a heart shaped moon shining down on a bent over tree. _That's the tree from the island!_ I thought to myself. _What's going on?_

"Your heart is different." A voice said, though I didn't hear it. It sort of felt like I was reading words in my head. "You have a balance I have never seen before. This may be the quality that it chose you."

I wanted to speak back, but something prevented me.

It continued, "Though you do have an equality about you, you must choose a path. Which shall it be: light or darkness?"

Two platforms arose from the middle of the mosaic, though they didn't break through. They seemed to have just appeared. On the right was a white energy substance, and on the left was a black. I walked up to them and dared to grab both at the same time.

"Clever decision, but can you handle using both at the same time?"

The energy orbs turned into the key-swords like the ones in the platform. Soon after, strange shadows and lights appeared.

"You now wield the Keyblade, use it wisely or abuse its power as you chose."

The shadows and lights took a strange form. They morphed into small spastic creatures with antennae. The lunged at me and I defended myself well. Every last one of their numbers fell to the last.

"So you chose to smite both the light and dark. You shall be a most intriguing Keybearer." A tall, white door opened itself in front of me. "Step through when you are ready to leave your heart."

I stepped through as a bright light shined, and I woke up on the beach of my home, Destiny Islands.


	2. Chapter 1

Kingdom Hearts

Embrace in Between

Chapter 1

My eyes fluttered open.

"Man, what a weird dream." I said to myself yawning. I picked myself halfway up. I always did enjoy this island's sunset. How long had it been since I washed up here? Ten years I think? "It never changes does it?"

"Don't think it has." A voice answered from behind me.

It startled me at first. I jerked my head around. The voice belonged to Yami.

"Didn't scare you, did I, Eien?" He smirked sarcastically. He and Hikari were my best friends on the island. Yami had spikey, white-ish hair. He wore a blue hoodie with a yellow long sleeve shirt underneath, and denim baggy jeans.

"Not at all." I said mimicking his sarcasm. "Hey, is Hikari still here?"

"Yeah she's over by the tree waiting for you. I'm headin' home. Don't get yourselves into trouble while I'm gone. See ya." Yami walked off to the dock and got in his row boat. I had headed for the shack that had stairs leading up to the bridge to the bent tree. I could see her, before and after going through the shack.

Halfway across the bridge Hikari noticed me and smiled her infectious smile. Her long, black hair went well with her subtle, heterochromatic eyes, brown on her right and hazel on her left. She wore a purple, sleeveless jacket over a black shirt with sleeves that exposed her shoulders, and a dark pink skirt.

"Well, there you are, Lazy!" she called playfully once I got closer.

"Sorry, I got really tired all of sudden." I said abashed.

"Uh huh, from doing what, sleeping?" She chuckled at her own smack talk. I admitted it was good by laughing with her.

"I did more today than just sleep, you should've known that when you entered the secret place."

"Actually I haven't gone in there today."

"You should. I've been working on something in there." I went over and sat on the bent tree, next to her.

She sighed contently, "So what did you dream about?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm not really sure. Something weird. I've nearly forgotten it all now."

"Well, tell me about the stuff you remember."

"Hmmm. Let's see there were voices, monsters, and swords. That's about it." I said trying not so hard to remember it. "Told you, nothing but weird, right?"

"A bit." Hikari faced the sunset. The orange light made her face glow beautifully. "Do you think it will always be the same?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"The way things are; you, Yami, and I coming to the island, you without an actual home except for the room up in the tree house. You know, that sort of stuff."

"Well, it might change as we get older."

"Can we keep that from happening?"

"Are you ok, Hikari? You seem down."

She sighed, this time with a longing tone. "I'm fine." She smiled the same infectious smile and yawned. "I guess I should head home, it's getting late."

I followed her to her row boat and she went off to the mainland. I on the other hand, went up the ladders to my tree house room and just laid in bed, thinking myself to sleep.

I awoke to the sound of a nearby thunder clap. I went to the door to see how bad it was raining, but it wasn't. The sky was darker than usual and lightning whipped around in the night sky. It was extremely weird. The wind nearly knocked me over the edge of the wooden, makeshift railing. That drew my attention to the dock. Yami's and Hikari's rowboats were here.

"What are they doing here so late?" I asked myself running down to the edge of the sand to try and look for them. However, I stopped in the middle of my stride when I got to the waterfall pool. A weird light shined out from the secret cave. As I went over to investigate, the monsters that haunted my dreams sprung from the ground. Taken by surprise, my instinct was to put up my hands, but when I did, the "Keyblades" from before materialized in my palms. The creatures stopped. I supposed they were stunned even though they didn't show it. If they were stunned it was only for a second though, they leaped at me again and I slayed them faster than the ones in my dream. More started to appear behind me so I booked it into the cave.

Once inside I saw Yami staring at the door. But it had changed, there was now a huge, old keyhole in the center of it.

"Yami? What's going on? What was that weird light? Where's Hikari? I saw her boat outside, but I,"

"She's gone Eien. That light was her leaving this world." He turned to me. The happy-go-lucky, sarcastic look was replaced with a malicious scour. "This world is doomed; we need to leave it while we can."

"What are you talking about? Yami, what did you do?"

"I'm about to free this world of its torture, send it to its true home." A black fire ignited in Yami's hand and created a horrible looking version of the same sort of weapon I had. Though the hilt guard was a heart, demonic wings sprouted from its edges. One to the responsibility of being the blade as black thorns twisted around it and then around a trapped heart. The chain was black heart. "Are you going to join me? Or are you going to run away with the light like Hikari?"

"Yami, quit this crazy talk! You're not making any sense!"

"It will once I show you what I mean." He pointed his Keyblade at the keyhole. The same black fire erupted into the keyhole and the door burst open. An unholy dark wind rushed from it. It was all I could do to stop myself from falling. "Now that you see the power of darkness, Eien, make your decision!"

"I-I" I could barely speak from the sheer force of the gust. Finally I gave in and the wind carried me out of the cave. The darkness pushed me with such force I landed at the edge of the beach, only there wasn't water at the edge. I was on a small, floating portion of what was left of the island. Above me was a black and red ball that acted like a black hole.

"What is going on!" I yelled to the racing air.

"You didn't hear your friend? This world is ending, and you along with it."

It sounded like I said it. But my voice wasn't that harsh or deep. I turned to see the darker me from the mosaic platform in my dream.

"Who are you?" I asked cautiously.

"I'm the other side of your heart." He said in a 'duh' sort of tone. "You should have gone with Yami. The darkness has so much to offer. You'd be one of the few that could handle it. Look at me for example, I'm handling it just fine."

"I don't get a thing of what you're saying, but something is telling me that you're wrong." Only one Keyblade materialized this time, the gold hilt, and silver bladed one. He, or the me across from me, took hold of the reverse.

"Then I'll knock some sense into you." He grinned maliciously and attacked first. I blocked him just in time. Our Keyblades clashed an innumerable amount of times. I'd expect nothing less from fighting me. We were same in speed and strength. I couldn't use any of the tricks I would use with Yami when we would spar. I had no idea of what to do, so I decided to mimic Yami's style. Even though the darker me knew what I was doing he still faltered in his reactions. My Keyblade clashed less on his Keyblade and more around his body. I couldn't believe I was winning until I delivered the finally blow. I smashed the Keyblade out of his hand and it stabbed the ground behind him. He tried to race after it, but is faded out and into my hand.

Though I was quite bewildered it had done so, I tried to mask it and make it seem like that was my plan.

The dark me glared at me in defeat. "Fine, have it your way." He stood there as the wind changed direction, pulling us toward the giant black hole in the sky. He went willingly, but I tried to stay connected to the fleeting ground. It was no use. I too was sucked into the vacuum as everything went black.


	3. Chapter 2

Kingdom Hearts

Embrace in Between

Chapter 2

I awoke suddenly, like I had just had a nightmare. It sure felt like one. It took a while, but I realized this nightmare wasn't over yet. I felt the floor; it was far from the familiar grains of warm, soft sand. Instead my hand grazed cold, rough brick. I held my head in some attempt to calm its persistent throbbing. This could possibly be the worst headache I ever have had.

"Ugh, man, now where am I?" I asked nothing again. Whenever I need a question answered no one seems to be around to answer it. I felt so many things ran through my head. Anger at what Yami did on Destiny Islands; sorrow for what happened to my only known home; and finally anxiety for the whereabouts of my lost friends. I rushed out of the alley quicker than I thought I could. Calling their names, I tried to gain some reaction from something, anything, I was desperate. I needed a sign of what was happening to me. Was this all a dream? Could this actually be real?

I screamed at the top of my lungs, "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!" From all the emotion that ran in those words I went down on my hands and knees. It was now that the rage set in. I couldn't sit still anymore; I had to take some sort of action. Finding my own answers is the only option. Going in some sort of direction, I went up some stairs behind a building and through these large, wooden doors.

I tried my friends' names again.

"Hikari! Yami!" Nothing answered for a few seconds, and then the creatures from the island showed up, both of them. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" The Keyblades were quick to respond to my call. These pests went out even faster. So much energy was building up in me from the absolute rage that was driving me. Again seconds went by before another wave came, but this time a different enemy showed up. These creatures now had armor on.

I had had enough. I exploded on these things, whatever they are, and none dared show themselves now. But there was still this immense anger wanting an outlet, so I gave it one. I swung wildly at anything and everything. I was blind, my attacks going everywhere. I didn't care where it landed just as long as something got hurt, scratched, took damage from me. It soon got to where I couldn't control it. I wanted to hurt everything, destroy everything. I tried so hard to stop myself, but I couldn't. Part of me was scared, but the other part didn't care. I felt like two different people.

Finally something did stop me: a hard knock on the back of my head, which took my senses again.

Once again the headache returned. I was getting knocked out left and right. What did I do to deserve this? I remembered the rampage I went on (hopefully) not too long ago. _Oh yeah, that's why._ But at least that question got answered.

My eyes were still shut however, I tried cracking one open just far enough to see, but not be noticed by whoever was watching me. I could see fuzzy images. A man and a woman were arguing. I could barely hear enough to make sense of it. _Might as well reveal myself_, I thought, and moved as if I had just woken up.

"Oh good, you're awake!" The woman said. She had short, brown hair, and worn a pink hood connect to a white tank top with pink lace underneath. Her left leg was covered by half of a blue dress, underneath which were shorts. She also wore yellow bands on her biceps.

"See I didn't hit him that hard." Said the man. He had shorter, dirty blonde hair. His clothes consisted of a yellow, short sleeve jacket covered by black overalls, black shorts. His left arm had odd padding on it. A blue shoulder pad led down too red muscle guard, which was partially covered by a leather gauntlet. "He's tougher than he looks."

"You're the one that knocked me." I said trying to hold back my interrupted rampage.

"Yeah, sorry about that, didn't know another way to stop you. That was some anger management back there."

I sighed, "I honestly didn't know what else to do. I've never felt that mad before."

"Well, that dark Keyblade probably didn't help either, huh?"

"Look, I'm going to stop you right there. That's what I was so mad about; I had so many unanswered questions that I was willing to do anything to get them."

"So you had no idea of the power you now wield?" the man rubbed his brow, maybe in distress or disbelief I couldn't tell. "How about we start with introductions, my name is Tidus."

"I'm Yuna." The girl said. She stood up and walked over to Tidus. Behind her was a long ponytail wrapped in a long, pink band.

"Eien. I have to ask you guys, have you seen Yami or Hikari anywhere? Yami is tall with white spikey hair, you can't miss him. And Hikari is short with long black hair. I don't know where Hikari went, but Yami, I think, went through a door in the secret cave back on the island, He said that Hikari left with the light, but I have no clue what that means. Can either of you help, please?"

They looked at each other awkwardly. That told me they didn't have answer either. I was distraught again. I felt helpless without a trail or lead to help me find my friends.

"Hey, don't be down. I think I know what happened to your friends. It happened to me once, but I didn't know it at the time. Yami I think opened Destiny Islands up again to be taken by the heartless. However, Hikari is a different story." Tidus explained, but something in his explanation struck me as odd.

"I don't think I told you what island I was talking about."

"You didn't have to. I knew where you were saying because I lived there once. Well before a friend led me here. I found this place more to my liking than Destiny Islands."

"Where are we exactly?" I finally asked.

"We're in Traverse Town. It acts as a world for the lost to call home." Yuna answered. "Tidus and I are trying to help those who, like you, had their home world consumed by darkness."

I knew what that meant. Yami told me of how he would do that. I guess he was successful.

"I guess that's the star I saw flicker out." Tidus's words cut deeper.

_So it is gone. My home, my friends' home, the islands, all gone and there's not a thing I can do about it. _I felt a cold tear roll down my cheek. _Oh pull it together. You've been through worse, right. Or maybe this is the worst it's gotten._ I did what I told myself. After that first drop hit the floor, I held back the rest.

"Well, I guess I won't bother you guys anymore." I got up to leave.

"Wait," Tidus put his hand on my shoulder. "You're not ready to go out there on your own, not with the heartless and heartfelt out there."

"Heartless and heartfelt?"

"Those black and white monsters that attacked you. Though you did take them down pretty easily, they'll only get stronger and come in greater numbers. And as long as you wield the Keyblade they'll come after you nonstop."

The Keyblade. As the thought touched my brain, they showed up in my hands.

"Both Kingdom Keys? How are you able to handle them both?" Yuna was surprised, but Tidus had already seen me with them.

"He almost can, but one side can overpower the other."

"I thought these were called Keyblades." I said.

"They are, but that's just the weapon. Each Keyblade has a name. These have the same name: Kingdom Key. The thing that baffles me is that you have the light version of the Kingdom Key," he pointed to the silver blade, "and the dark version of the Kingdom Key." he pointed to the gold blade.

"You see, the Keyblade is a universal key. It can unlock anything, even the heart of a world." Yuna continued.

"Is that what Yami did?" I asked them.

"Seems like it." Tidus put his hand to his chin. "Once you open a world's heart it is susceptible to anything that tries to harness its power. Yami consumed your world's heart with darkness, thus making it disappear."

"How is that setting it free of its torture? He said he would send the islands to its true home."

"He must be under the impression that all the worlds must return to darkness."

He was halted in his thoughts as only the heartless infiltrated the room we were in. I went after them, but Tidus and Yuna defeated them first. They were felled by swings from Tidus's sword, whose blade looks like trapped water, and Yuna's twin pistols.

"They've found us." Tidus headed for a door. "Yuna can you keep them held up here?"

"Sure can, you take Eien, I'll be fine." She replied as more of the heartless showed up.

"Come on!" Tidus called to me. I did as he told me. He opened the door and we found ourselves on a balcony. He had no problem with jumping over the edge so neither did I. I landed better than I thought I did and didn't lose sight of Tidus. From the balcony we ran left and through another door which led to a street. "Thankfully the first district isn't far, just up those stairs."

I wasn't far behind him until a huge blob fell from the sky. It knocked me away from it and I hit the wall behind me.

"Eien!"

"Wait, I got this. It's time I learned how to use these." Charging head first, I brought down my Keyblades on the heartless's gut. They bounced off without causing a single scratch. Tidus managed to cut its back a couple of times and the heartless vanished.

"There'll be time to play hero later, hurry."

Reluctantly I followed the man up the stairs and through familiar large doors. Once I was through, I helped him shut the doors so nothing could get through.

"Now, I want you to get into the shop and stay there." He commanded.

"What about you?"

"I'm going to go through the third district, but you are not to come with me, got it." The last words blended with his demands.

"No way, I'm going with you. You said I had to train with the Keyblades so I'm gonna!"

"No, and that's final." He raced around the central building, down the stairs and through tall doors on the left. I tried my best to follow, but the doors shut and locked.

"Oh come on, you just told me these things could unlock anything." I held both weapons up to the door in the fashion I saw Yami, but nothing happened. I didn't see any beam shoot out the tip. "Why won't it work?"

That's when I remembered that the door in the cave had a keyhole. I tried my best to find the same thing, but there was nothing like that.

"Looking for something?" someone said behind me. I turned to see a tanned man with tall orange hair surrounded by a blue head band. He had on orange overalls and orange shorts.

"Yeah, is there a way to unlock this door?"

"Yeah, though it's on the other side."

"Are you going to let me know of a way over there or are you friends with Tidus?"

"Yeah, I'm friends with him. Though I'm friends with you now too. They call me Wakka. If you go just past the stairs in the second district, to the right, you'll see the way there."

"Thanks," I took off to my destination, but forgot something. "Oh, and my name's Eien." I called out to him while I was half way out the first district.


	4. Chapter 3

Kingdom Hearts

Embrace in Between

Chapter 3

Entering the second district, I was immediately ambushed by several heartless. Shadows, soldiers, and large bodies surrounded me and struck first. The shadows and soldiers were no problem; it was the large bodies that took effort. I was able to get behind and slay them nevertheless. I jumped over the stone railing by the stairs and entered the alley that led to the third district. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. To the left of me was a vacant house; a little further right were stairs that led down to an open area. The door to the first district was in front of me now. Beside it was the keyhole. Pointing a Keyblade at it, a beam shot out into the hole.

"There," I said as I heard the sound of a door unlocking. But that wasn't the only sound I heard. A large metal clanging noise rang behind me. I turned around to see a pile of huge armor. I moved closer to it. The armor was purple with…with the weird X-ed out heart on it.

It began to shake then came to life, putting itself together. The suit threw its fist at me. I rolled out the way as quick as I could.

"Wonderful…" I muttered to myself. All it did, however, was waste time that I needed to move. This thing, whatever it was, was quick, quicker than me. It was all I could to keep away from its detachable limbs. [_Wait that's it! I need to get rid of those first!_]

The heartless let its hands and legs go. Now was my chance. I sprang into action and attacked the legs first. I got hit a couple of stomps, but managed to defeat the feet. Now the body tried its own attacks. Spinning and moving wildly, it managed to knock me over many times. If that wasn't bad enough, the hands were trying to pummel me as well. I needed the hands to go first. Though the body tried its hardest to stop me, the hands were destroyed regardless. The body went absolutely out of control as one last attempt to kill me. It was no use without the arms and legs, the heartless went down easier than expected.

On the final slash it stopped dead in its tracks and fell to the ground. The floating head slammed to the ground and a heart was whisked out of the chest plate, up into the sky and disappeared.

I was wiped, if this was how fighting heartless was going to be, I was doomed. I haven't even fought that many heartfelt yet either. Tidus was right; I needed a lot more training.

"Impressive," I heard Tidus say coming up behind me. "You took down that heartless all by yourself?"

"Yeah, but I'm exhausted right now." I painted.

"Here, take this. It'll help out." He threw a weird shaped bottle at me. I uncorked it and drank the liquid inside.

I felt completely rejuvenated. All the cuts and bruises I got seemed to go away instantly.

"Wow! What was that?" I asked.

"It was a potion. Heals up a bit. Comes in handy in pinch."

"Thanks for that. But I'll probably need a lot of those if I'm going to fight anything like that heartless again."

"Actually, you might not. The only way to get better at something is to keep doing it. You've done enough fighting for one day. Now comes the fun part. With the Keyblade comes the ability to use magic, another thing that'll help in battle."

"Magic? You mean like fireballs and all that? You're going to teach me that?"

"Nope, can't do much of it myself. But I do know of a guy that could help. He used to live here, but moved back to his original home a long time ago. I think the place is called Radiant Garden."

"How do I get there? Is it around here?"

"No, it's a completely different world. You can only get there by Gummi ship, but…"

"But what?" I was thoroughly confused on what a Gummi ship was.

"But we don't have an expert on it or even have a Gummi ship just lying around." Tidus put his hand to his chin when Yuna and Wakka came in from the first district.

"Tidus, there's something you should see." Yuna said. Tidus and I followed.

When we got through the door we saw a weird hole of some sort. It radiated bright light.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a light gate, but the only person I know who could summon one is…" Tidus pondered for a minute. "Eien I think this is meant for you."

I looked at him like he was insane.

"Trust me on this. Just step through there and your magic lessons will begin."

Reluctantly I agreed. I took one step forward.


End file.
